Ishaan Tharoor
@ishaantharoor.bsky.social
Global affairs columnist @WashingtonPost.com, anchor of The Post's WorldView column and newsletter on int'l politics. Dad. New Yorker. Victoria concordia crescit. New to BlueSky!
In the shadow of Sudan’s misery, President Donald Trump has done conspicuously little. He insists he’s the world’s greatest peacemaker — claiming credit for resolving conflicts that, in some instances, are either still raging or never existed in the first place.
November 3, 2025 at 4:59 PM
In the shadow of Sudan’s misery, President Donald Trump has done conspicuously little. He insists he’s the world’s greatest peacemaker — claiming credit for resolving conflicts that, in some instances, are either still raging or never existed in the first place.
Elon Musk's Twitter in one image
October 27, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Elon Musk's Twitter in one image
September 8, 2025 at 5:09 PM
My latest, on how China seizing the mantle of the post-war era, for all its opportunism and cynicism, is more plausible than it would have been a year ago.
Read more sans paywall here: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Read more sans paywall here: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
September 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
My latest, on how China seizing the mantle of the post-war era, for all its opportunism and cynicism, is more plausible than it would have been a year ago.
Read more sans paywall here: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Read more sans paywall here: www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
My latest, after a vacation hiatus
On Israel's unprecedented slaughter of journalists
Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4oSWffh
On Israel's unprecedented slaughter of journalists
Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4oSWffh
August 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
My latest, after a vacation hiatus
On Israel's unprecedented slaughter of journalists
Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4oSWffh
On Israel's unprecedented slaughter of journalists
Non-paywalled link: wapo.st/4oSWffh
A truly stupid state of affairs
August 11, 2025 at 7:50 PM
A truly stupid state of affairs
“They made a desolation and called it peace”
August 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
“They made a desolation and called it peace”
My latest, in which I was cringe and went Gen Z:
China’s strategy? Let Trump cook.
"I am not sure if any other incumbent power in history has so rapidly and systematically attacked its own principal sources of competitive advantage,” Ali Wyne @crisisgroup.org told me.
Free link: wapo.st/4m1fxNw
China’s strategy? Let Trump cook.
"I am not sure if any other incumbent power in history has so rapidly and systematically attacked its own principal sources of competitive advantage,” Ali Wyne @crisisgroup.org told me.
Free link: wapo.st/4m1fxNw
July 23, 2025 at 6:28 PM
My latest, in which I was cringe and went Gen Z:
China’s strategy? Let Trump cook.
"I am not sure if any other incumbent power in history has so rapidly and systematically attacked its own principal sources of competitive advantage,” Ali Wyne @crisisgroup.org told me.
Free link: wapo.st/4m1fxNw
China’s strategy? Let Trump cook.
"I am not sure if any other incumbent power in history has so rapidly and systematically attacked its own principal sources of competitive advantage,” Ali Wyne @crisisgroup.org told me.
Free link: wapo.st/4m1fxNw
Everyone is circulating acclaimed Holocaust scholar @omerbartov.bsky.social's NYT op-ed on Israel committing genocide. Good moment to remember the thread he began pulling before Oct. 7, where he and other Israeli scholars published an open letter on Israel acting like an "apartheid" state.
July 15, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Everyone is circulating acclaimed Holocaust scholar @omerbartov.bsky.social's NYT op-ed on Israel committing genocide. Good moment to remember the thread he began pulling before Oct. 7, where he and other Israeli scholars published an open letter on Israel acting like an "apartheid" state.
My latest
Mamdani vs. Trump could soon be the sharpest example of a wider global trend of mayors locking horns with nationalist leaders
I spoke to Gergely Karacsony, mayor of Budapest, who is staging a Pride parade this weekend in the face of an Orban govt ban
Non-paywalled link:
wapo.st/4enVYw1
Mamdani vs. Trump could soon be the sharpest example of a wider global trend of mayors locking horns with nationalist leaders
I spoke to Gergely Karacsony, mayor of Budapest, who is staging a Pride parade this weekend in the face of an Orban govt ban
Non-paywalled link:
wapo.st/4enVYw1
June 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
My latest
Mamdani vs. Trump could soon be the sharpest example of a wider global trend of mayors locking horns with nationalist leaders
I spoke to Gergely Karacsony, mayor of Budapest, who is staging a Pride parade this weekend in the face of an Orban govt ban
Non-paywalled link:
wapo.st/4enVYw1
Mamdani vs. Trump could soon be the sharpest example of a wider global trend of mayors locking horns with nationalist leaders
I spoke to Gergely Karacsony, mayor of Budapest, who is staging a Pride parade this weekend in the face of an Orban govt ban
Non-paywalled link:
wapo.st/4enVYw1
A lot of bangers recently on the old bird site
June 25, 2025 at 3:41 PM
A lot of bangers recently on the old bird site
In my latest, acclaimed scholar Abbas Amanat asks the big question re what Israel wants. It's hard to imagine any scenario where Iran emerges as a country "subordinated" to Israeli and U.S. interests. So, instead, Amanat fears that Israel wants another Libya in the Middle East.
wapo.st/4kOhTPI
wapo.st/4kOhTPI
June 16, 2025 at 5:15 PM
In my latest, acclaimed scholar Abbas Amanat asks the big question re what Israel wants. It's hard to imagine any scenario where Iran emerges as a country "subordinated" to Israeli and U.S. interests. So, instead, Amanat fears that Israel wants another Libya in the Middle East.
wapo.st/4kOhTPI
wapo.st/4kOhTPI
My column from Singapore, ahead of Pete Hegseth's debut at Asia's top security forum. Macron already spoke today, calling for "new coalitions" betw Europe and Asia
And this is what Jose Ramos-Horta, president of Timor Leste and Nobel laureate, said about the new Trumpian status quo
wapo.st/4jowkbu
And this is what Jose Ramos-Horta, president of Timor Leste and Nobel laureate, said about the new Trumpian status quo
wapo.st/4jowkbu
May 30, 2025 at 4:58 PM
My column from Singapore, ahead of Pete Hegseth's debut at Asia's top security forum. Macron already spoke today, calling for "new coalitions" betw Europe and Asia
And this is what Jose Ramos-Horta, president of Timor Leste and Nobel laureate, said about the new Trumpian status quo
wapo.st/4jowkbu
And this is what Jose Ramos-Horta, president of Timor Leste and Nobel laureate, said about the new Trumpian status quo
wapo.st/4jowkbu
My latest WorldView column is a chat with the great @willdalrymple.bsky.social, whose new book, which shows how India -- not China -- was at the heart of East-West contacts in antiquity, is out in the US. It also explores the underappreciated Indian cultural footprint across Asia. wapo.st/4j9IkO4
May 20, 2025 at 2:42 PM
My latest WorldView column is a chat with the great @willdalrymple.bsky.social, whose new book, which shows how India -- not China -- was at the heart of East-West contacts in antiquity, is out in the US. It also explores the underappreciated Indian cultural footprint across Asia. wapo.st/4j9IkO4
Bing bong
(via @maxwillens.bsky.social)
(via @maxwillens.bsky.social)
May 13, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Bing bong
(via @maxwillens.bsky.social)
(via @maxwillens.bsky.social)
The average American college student doesn't seem to be interested in the act of reading and writing. And AI's ultrarich proponents seem thrilled about engineering a society where fewer young people genuinely get to work their creative/analytic muscles
hilariusbookbinder.substack.com/p/the-averag...
hilariusbookbinder.substack.com/p/the-averag...
March 31, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The average American college student doesn't seem to be interested in the act of reading and writing. And AI's ultrarich proponents seem thrilled about engineering a society where fewer young people genuinely get to work their creative/analytic muscles
hilariusbookbinder.substack.com/p/the-averag...
hilariusbookbinder.substack.com/p/the-averag...
Here are top U.S. officials seemingly celebrating a hit that likely caused civilian casualties
March 26, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Here are top U.S. officials seemingly celebrating a hit that likely caused civilian casualties
In Gaza, over 1,000 miles of water and sanitation networks destroyed. The scale of destruction is total, and wholly at odds with repeated Israeli military insistence over the course of the war that strikes were carefully targeted and proportionate.
Per @oxfaminternational.bsky.social
Per @oxfaminternational.bsky.social
February 18, 2025 at 10:13 PM
In Gaza, over 1,000 miles of water and sanitation networks destroyed. The scale of destruction is total, and wholly at odds with repeated Israeli military insistence over the course of the war that strikes were carefully targeted and proportionate.
Per @oxfaminternational.bsky.social
Per @oxfaminternational.bsky.social
Also some historical tidbits: Seward's failed attempt to buy Greenland after Alaska was part of a master plan to coax Canada into the Union. t.co/O2kI2KdlOp
January 29, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Also some historical tidbits: Seward's failed attempt to buy Greenland after Alaska was part of a master plan to coax Canada into the Union. t.co/O2kI2KdlOp
Looking forward to moderating this panel at the Doha Forum shortly
December 7, 2024 at 6:55 AM
Looking forward to moderating this panel at the Doha Forum shortly
Out of town and so sad to miss this
December 3, 2024 at 7:25 PM
Out of town and so sad to miss this
The main reason we are slouching to dystopia
November 25, 2024 at 1:49 PM
The main reason we are slouching to dystopia
This, to me, is the funniest sort of reaction to the ICC warrants for two Israeli leaders. There's a crop of Western elites for whom the shabby tentpoles of their moral universe simply collapse when you suggest Churchill was guilty of war crimes. But, yes, he was, as is the US in the Middle East
November 23, 2024 at 12:15 PM
This, to me, is the funniest sort of reaction to the ICC warrants for two Israeli leaders. There's a crop of Western elites for whom the shabby tentpoles of their moral universe simply collapse when you suggest Churchill was guilty of war crimes. But, yes, he was, as is the US in the Middle East
How are people still writing this story
November 21, 2024 at 9:58 PM
How are people still writing this story